June 4, 2001 – Day by day, and dollar by dollar, visitors to St. John over the last dozen years have done more good for the community than they could ever have imagined possible.
It's all because of something called "the TAP tax" — short for "Tourist Awareness Project" — that got its start back in 1989. That's when James St. John, then-general manager of the then-Virgin Grand St. John Hotel, called a meeting of the island's hoteliers, short-term rental managers and other accommodations operators to talk about the need to come up with a better way of responding to community needs.
Today, the organization that eventually evolved from those discussions, the St. John Accommodations Council, can take credit for having donated $102,799 directly to community groups and individuals, and for having channeled another $120,736 into an endowment fund whose earnings finance the operations of the St. John Community Foundation.
Each Fourth of July, the council's largesse has a particularly visible impact on the overall community — through a contribution of $2,000 toward the St. John Festival fireworks, which cost about $15,000. For this year's festival, an additional donation has gone to cover the cost to the Community Foundation of purchasing of new games for Children's Village, which the foundation operates.
Jim St. John's idea, council founding member Lonnie Willis recalls, was first of all that "there should be a group for St. John hotels" separate from the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel Association. And second, that it should adopt the practice then in place on St. Croix of imposing a voluntary fee of $1 per room/night on guests' bills, with the proceeds to go for mini-grants in support of community causes. He envisioned that the two largest properties, his own and Caneel Bay, "also would contribute," Willis adds.
"If we had a million-dollar endowment, he figured, we could be paying for things to get them done without waiting for the government to decide if we needed them or not," she says.
"What happened in the end was something Jim St. John was disappointed about," Willis adds. After he left the Virgin Grand, the new management didn't continue supporting the fund. Nor did the successor resorts on the property, the Hyatt and then the Westin; nor has the island's other major resort, Caneel Bay. "But we continue to stay in touch with them," Willis adds cheerfully.
The Community Foundation was created first, with what is today the Accommodations Council functioning as one of its committees. Later, the committee "decided to form its own group to represent the small hotels," Willis says.
The Accommodations Council has 42 current dues-paying members that include all 19 of the island's villa-rental companies, Caneel Bay, Gallows Point, the Maho Bay and Cinnamon Bay campgrounds, every condominium complex but one, and the island's small hotels, inns and bed-and-breakfasts, Mary Hildebrand, council president, says.
Some properties give, if guests don't
While not all assess the TAP tax, she says, some have been known to contribute the equivalent fee on their own even when they haven't collected it from guests. "Sometimes, it's the owner of the house, sometimes it's the business that manages it," Hildebrand says.
With the island's third-largest property, Maho Bay Camps, also not contributing to the fund (owner Stanley Selingut instead asks guests to donate to the Friends of the National Park), Gallows Point Suite Resorts is the largest contributor, Willis says.
The voluntary assessment is called the "TAP tax" to this day, although "we dropped the long name right away, because it didn't mean anything to the tourists," Willis says.
How the properties assess the "tax" is up to them. For the homes Hildebrand manages, "It's listed as a separate line item that just says TAP tax. If people ask, I explain, but most just see it as a $7 item for the week and don't even ask about it." When Willis was running two small hotels, she would itemize the fee as "voluntary contribution, $1 per night" and tell anyone who asked about the item, "If you would prefer not to pay this, advise us and we will take it off your bill."
Half of each dollar goes directly to the Community Foundation endowment. The rest goes into a pool from which the council itself writes checks to fund an endless variety of projects, primarily for schools and not-for-profit groups.
In the last couple of years, the foundation has expanded its internal commitments, opening an office, hiring a part-time executive director (Mary Blazine), and establishing the Harry Daniel Scholarship, awarded annually to a St. John college student.
The council's mini-grants have been primarily to pay for equipment or to cover travel costs, and are not intended to cover salaries. Projects involving children get top priority. Some entities have been funded repeatedly — such as KATS (Kids And The Sea) — but there's always some new project, too. The council just decided to give $1,000 to the St. John Soccer Association's female teams, the women's Wolfpack and the girls' Wolfpups.
'The funds are there' and so are needs
In a departure from standard granting procedure, there is no form to fill out. All that's needed is a letter to the council explaining how much is wanted and why. The disbursements committee meets monthly to review applications. "The funds are there, and we try to do as much as we can with them," Hildebrand says. "There are always things that kids need.."
The project that stands out most vividly in Hildebrand's memory was one that took nearly a year to put together. Sprauve School teachers approached the council about a special-needs student who they said would benefit immensely from a voice-activated computer. "We had to meet with an expert to find out what would work best," she recalls, "and we ended up getting a neat little Apple/iBook laptop."
The council members never met the beneficiary, she says, but they've gotten feedback that "it's every bit as exciting for this student as the teachers had hoped it would be, so that his spelling, reading and writing could take the leap forward that they knew was possible."
In this case, as often is the case, Hildebrand says, others in the community also helped out. The consultant didn't charge for his services. "You find that people are very generous when they learn that you are donating money," she says, "and they try to help the beneficiary get the most out of it."
Another instance was when the water pump at Sprauve School broke one Friday. "We knew the hardware store had the pump needed and we thought a plumber that we all know might be able to do the work," she relates. He did, on Saturday, without charge, "and the children had water when they came back to school on Monday."
Hildebrand keeps a scrapbook of thank-you notes and cards from people who've received grants. Among the most expressive are those from students. An art teacher who came to teach on St. John at both the Sprauve and Guy Benjamin schools last year found no supplies but some chalk. "I think we provided about $1,500," Hildebrand says, "and the children all used a bit of their new art supplies to send us thank-you cards."
Dispite the vagaries of tourism in the territory, "I have the impression that we are collecting more money each year," Hildebrand says. "More homes come into rental management each year, and all of us are seeing that our season is longer, extending well into the summer."
For the growing TAP tax fund, there are always plenty of supplicants. Certain groups, such as the St. John Cultural and Festival Organization "come to us every year," in this case seeking
funding for the fireworks and for their children's Christmas party. "They would find a way without us," Hildebrand says, "but it's helpful for them to know that they have that initial support."
